Reviews

"All you see is an illusion"

Master of Zen must have been a deeply personal project for Brandy Yuen. He was the director, writer, martial arts director and producer for this film. Based on the legends of Bodhi Dharma who is believed to have brought Chan (Zen) Buddhism to China and even given the Shaolin monks the basis of their kung fu. I do not practice Buddhism and do not have much knowledge of the history of this story so my review will be based on my opinion of the artistic merit of the film.

A third prince in India has a vision of himself as an old man when he’s out in the woods. Later, a Buddhist monk gives him this message, “Before my birth who was I to be? After I was born who became me?” Despite being the crown prince, he leaves the palace and goes to study Buddhism. He is renamed Bodhi Dharma. Sixty years later he makes the arduous three-year journey to south China. His message is often rejected as he travels among the populace as he is for being a foreigner. When he finds a cave at the backend of the Shaolin temple property, he begins his nine-year meditation without food or water that will change the perception about him. Elsewhere in China, a young monk is attempting to overcome his guilt over his bloody past. His journey will eventually bring him to Bodhi Dharma’s cave.

The presentation of the film was perplexing. It often came across as a documentary re-enactment, but then strayed into very magical wire-fu. The editing was painfully off-kilter. The most distracting aspect was Derek Yee’s makeup, from his early very dark brown makeup which lightened with each passing year. But most awful was his old man makeup. According to the film, he would had to have been at least in his 80’s. His aging prosthetics were abysmal. He looked much better when he hit 150 years old and lost the badly puckered brow ridge.

If you are looking for the miracles, many of them were in the film. There were also plenty of inspirational conversations and visits to temples. I just stumbled over the acting, and awkward stitching together of the stories. The scenery alternated between epic mountains and desert vistas to lower budget sets. If you are familiar with the stories and wish to see them on film, this may be a film to try. If not, the drawbacks may outweigh the more entertaining parts.

15 May 2026

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Countdown of Life

I must say, this movie did something to me. It moved my heart in a new direction and made me look at life differently. The description puts it into a genre of fantasy, but the story is as real as it gets. At first glance this is a simple drama about a son concerned about his mom, while he notices strange numbers appearing. The numbers are symbolic of a countdown, but what do they really count?

The movie started slow and unconvincing, but thanks to the great performances of all the actors, it slowly got under my skin. So at the end, i didn't feel at all as if watching a movie or actors performing. Instead, their characters felt like real people, or should i say, like my own family.

This is a minimalistic movie perfect for Mothers Day. The second best option is watching it at lunch, preferably eating Kimchi stew which i did eat today. That way, you might feel as if sitting with the characters at the same table.

PS. I give the movie one extra star for mentioning my Rap Idol Outsider :)

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Everything is grey

I feel like the male lover and wife both were good people the real bad guy was the dead husband who left his lover to lead a "normal life" and went ahead to fake his marriage with his wife. And then when he could no longer do that, he very conveniently got back with his ex-lover. Somehow his lover takes loan for his surgery and takes care of him in his last days. In a sense, he cheats both of them. I feel they both were wronged by the husband.
I really liked how in the start that lady was so frustrated with all this happening that she became too controlling for son, but never stopped caring for his son. And once she realizes that she was the one who came after. The male lover didnt really "stole his husband" She forgives him and herself (and god lol) even gave him the insurance money.

The "male lover" who selflessly truly loved the husband even when he had left him once. Dealt with all the accusation of stealing the husband and "home wrecker" when they had a thing going on before the wedding. Didn't really asked for the insurance money desparately when he was the one who took care of the husband and also when he had such bad loan.

The kid who was curious and thought of the male lover as the bad guy and found his mom so overwhelming to live with, got to know about the whole mess and became more understanding towards both.

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Park Ji Hoon, Oh My God.

At this point, I’m convinced I’ll watch literally anything this man acts in because oh my god, the acting in this absolutely destroyed me.

The movie itself may not have been perfectly made. There were definitely certain depths and emotional layers that could’ve been explored more and honestly, I even feel like this story might’ve worked better as a mini-series to fully flesh everything out. I especially wish we had gotten more relationship development (a little more emotional bonding without it being rushed) between Heung Do and the deposed King because I feel like that would’ve helped viewers understand the emotional weight of the story even more deeply and made the impact hit harder toward the end.

But despite those flaws, the performances were so phenomenal that I was completely moved from start to finish. It’s actually such a simple story on paper, yet the way the emotions were portrayed made everything hit ten times harder. You could genuinely feel every ounce of pain, grief, helplessness and humanity through the acting alone.

And the eye acting by Park Ji Hoon? Phenomenal as always. He conveys so much emotion without even needing dialogue sometimes. Even Yoo Hai Jin really stood out to me; his performance genuinely had me in tears. The emotional delivery from both of them carried so much of the film’s impact.

And then came the realization that this was based on real historical events. Holy. Hell.

I already found myself emotional while watching but learning that real people actually lived through this made the ending hit me like a truck. I cried so much harder afterward because suddenly it stopped feeling like “just a movie.” There’s something deeply haunting about knowing that the suffering, emotions and tragedies shown on screen were rooted in reality.

This is one of those films where the acting completely elevates the experience beyond its flaws. Even if the storytelling wasn’t perfect, the performances made sure the emotions stayed with me long after the credits rolled.

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So sad that maybe I could not rewatch

There is a special quiet acting in this role that was needed, and park ji-hoon nailed it. As always his acting was great, it has my approval for such a sad history.

For someone who is just a fan of the actor, it brings them closer to knowing the dark history of the county that their favorite films and dramas are made at, a perfect retelling that made us laugh in the first half, just to strip it away and make the true ending of the story of the king, sadder.

"I do not wish to die at their hands, nor by the poison they grant. Even in death, I would not accept that"
Those lines were the end of the happy era of the movie, and they were delivered perfectly.

I can understand why so many people watched the movie, it was simply worth it.

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Somehow More Fukuda Yuichi Than Fukuda Yuichi Movies

This was just an underwhelming mess. As a fan of the original, this adaptation was incredibly disappointing and felt like a completely different story wearing Romantic Killer’s skin. I was genuinely really excited for this adaptation despite already expecting them to change some things from the original, which honestly made the disappointment even worse. It failed to capture the humor and character dynamics that made the anime enjoyable in the first place.

This review is going to be HUGE 😭 but honestly, there is just SO much to unpack here because the movie changes so many important parts of the original story.

One thing I did actually enjoy was the references to famous romance anime/manga. They were funny and easy to catch if you’re familiar with shoujo media, and I did laugh at some of them. But honestly, those jokes felt more like something out of a Fukuda Yuichi-directed comedy movie than Romantic Killer itself. They completely overshadowed the original story. At that point, they should’ve just made a different parody romance movie with an original plot instead of adapting Romantic Killer.

The acting also didn’t help. Some of it was decent, but a lot of the male leads genuinely felt like they were just reading lines. I’m honestly tired of live action shoujo adaptations constantly casting idols who cannot act. I understand they do it because having popular idols means their fans will watch the movie no matter what, but it feels like that becomes the entire point of the adaptation instead of actually respecting the original work and at least TRYING to make a good movie. At times it felt more like a promotion for the actors and their groups than an actual adaptation, especially considering the movie included multiple theme songs from the male leads’ idol groups. Of course there are idols who are talented actors, but this cast was not convincing at all. The exaggerated anime style acting might not bother people who are used to Japanese live actions, but even then, some scenes were painful to sit through. The visible green screen edges and cheap-looking CGI somehow made the whole thing feel even more chaotic. The casting choices themselves were also strange. A lot of these actors looked way too old to be playing high schoolers, and some characters didn’t fit their original counterparts at all.

The biggest problem, though, was the writing. The screenwriter and director completely lost control of the story by the end, which honestly shocked me because I’ve seen and enjoyed a lot of works from both of them before, so I genuinely do not know what happened here. The final act was an absolute mess. Suddenly Anzu is yelling “I love you!” to all three male leads, alternate timeline versions of Anzu that ended up with different love interests show up, random male characters from earlier in the movie are fighting Riri and the “fake” Anzus so the “real” Anzu can run to the airport for Kazuki who randomly decided to leave for Paris because he wants to become a chef, which was an arc that was not in the anime and was never even properly developed beforehand. It just felt like they kept throwing random romance movie cliches into the script without thinking about whether any of it fit the story. Some cliches are obviously necessary because Riri is literally forcing romance scenarios onto Anzu, but the way this movie handled them became chaotic and excessive.

And that’s another issue. This should have been a drama, not a movie. Romantic Killer works because of its character arcs and slow relationship development, and there simply wasn’t enough time for any of that here. Important storylines were either erased entirely or rushed beyond belief. Saki’s arc especially suffered. In the original, her struggles with harassment, bullying, and being valued only for her looks were actually meaningful and helped build her friendship with Anzu. Honestly, she had really good chemistry with Anzu in the anime, which made me wonder why Riri never even tried setting her up with any girls when she ignored the handsome guys, since the whole point was supposed to be getting Anzu interested in romance by any means necessary. Here, Saki was reduced to a background character with almost no importance.

Other arcs were also butchered. Junta and Anzu’s childhood friend storyline went nowhere after the reveal, making Junta feel incredibly shallow as a character. Kazuki’s stalker arc, which was one of the most important parts of the original story, somehow turned into a bizarre action sequence involving the stalker with gang-like men showing up at their school play and fighting students in the audience. Then the stalker almost stabbed Anzu, Kazuki stopped her, and Anzu barely even did anything despite the movie trying to frame it like some heroic moment for her. She stepped forward saying she would protect Kazuki, immediately froze when the stalker pulled out a knife, and ended up needing Kazuki to protect her instead, even though this was HIS stalker in the first place. In the anime, Anzu actually got hurt while protecting him, which made the scene emotionally impactful. Here, the whole thing randomly ended with everyone praising Anzu and acting like she saved the day when Kazuki was the one who actually handled the situation. Then right after all of that, everyone casually watched fireworks and partied like nothing even happened. The tonal whiplash was insane.

Even the reason behind Riri setting up romance scenarios was changed for no reason. In the original, the whole “cupid” concept was tied into Japan’s declining birth rate, which was already ridiculous, but at least memorable and internally consistent. Here, they changed it into romance somehow being the magical energy that keeps the cupids alive, and because Anzu doesn’t care about romance, that energy is apparently declining and causing the cupids to starve. Even the movie itself seems to forget about this premise halfway through because it contributes almost nothing to the actual story, and she still doesn’t even properly choose someone in the end. It also makes the entire situation feel weirdly forced because the movie acts like the cupids running out of energy is specifically Anzu’s fault for not being interested in love, even though there are probably tons of other high school students who aren’t actively trying to find a partner because they’re literally still in school and focused on other things.

Overall, I just ended up feeling bad for the original creator since this adaptation completely misunderstood what made Romantic Killer special. References to famous works can't save horrible movies. I seriously regret watching it.

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"I can't see with my eyes but I can see with my heart"

Eye for an Eye was a short, low budget revenge film that punched and kicked above its weight. Another variation on a gifted blind swordsman (Zatoichi!), this wuxia version held its own even if it didn’t break new ground, just bones for the most part.

Blind swordsman Cheng Xia Zi is a successful “ghost killer” during the troubled days of the Tang Dynasty. He captures criminals with bounties on their heads, preferring to not pass lethal judgment on them. That changes when a friendly wine maker preparing for her wedding offers him a drink if he comes to the nuptials. Not long after, villains crash the party leaving family members dead and Ni Yan in disarray. Cheng had no desire to get involved but when the local magistrate betrays Ni Yan, he steps in and into a far deadlier and more complicated mess than he had expected.

Clocking in around 70 minutes, there wasn’t much room for character development. The women were particularly underdeveloped and mainly used as hostages or targets, often making stupid decisions. Cheng’s defining characteristic was his unwavering confidence in his ability to take on thirty-armed men. Initially he was happy to rely on his simple bone-crunching abilities that left fighters somewhat disabled. When the bad guys stepped over the line, the demon in Cheng awoke unleashing a powerhouse unafraid of facing down an army. Xie Miao did an excellent job of selling the action. The fights were exciting, increasingly merciless, and well-choreographed. If you don’t care for wire work or one man against many, this film won’t be for you. It for certain stretched the limits of believability, but going into a film about a blind swordsman is probably the first clue that reality is going to be on vacation.

Eye for an Eye had its narrative problems yet managed to still be entertaining largely due to swift moves that actually connected and incapacitated the enemy. As previously mentioned, once the demon was released, opponents stopped hobbling off. The snowy finale was reminiscent of an old children’s joke, “What’s black and white and red all over*” with a decidedly different punchline. Worth an hour of your time if you enjoy martial arts films and keep your expectations low.

14 May 2026

Trigger warnings: Sexual assault that was more graphic than what usually occurs in Chinese films, but no nudity. There was a fair bit of slicing and dicing and decapitations. No graphically spewing blood.

*Answer to the joke---A newspaper (red/read). Only “old” people will know what those are, ask your mom or grandmother. lol

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It honestly could be a great promotion for a new K-band

This short movie makes a very good job at building a compelling story around a South Korean band, just before they go on stage. A lot is happening, in a very short time, the script makes the viewer immediately understand the stakes as the relationships between the various protagonists unveil.

The casting was really good : especially, with Yunho from ATEEZ who was outstanding (which is not surprising, as he get really immersed in his characters in each MV I saw him in).

I would recommend this to people that enjoy stories featuring music and relationships in turmoil. Story wise, it did feel full fleshed, even if of course I wish it was longer to provide more meat to this interesting youthful story.

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Very powerful and impactful

This story of this movie felt very important to tell. It is set in 1987, at the end of the martial period in Taiwan and shows the brutal reality of that era, the discrimination and the protests. The relationship that it depicts in that context, felt super powerful and underlined by a very solid writing.

I'm not sure the epilogue was really that needed, as it made me take a slight stepback in terms of emotions...But other than that it was extremely impressive in its writing, showcasing a strong militant point of view and well constructed. The acting was excellent, the production was really good at featuring the social context of the story and the OST was very fitting, even if I was not necessarily the biggest fan of one particular song.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for an impactful coming-of-age story set in a rough period of time.

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As amazing the album is, the documentary felt a bit underwhelming

The highly expected comeback of BTS post military service came up with a great album "Arirang", a rather impressive live in the middle of Seoul and the following documentary. And let's just said that the documentary feels underwhelming compared to the album release and comeback performances.

It felt a bit messy in terms of storytelling, the point of view is mainly their reunion in Los Angeles to work on "Arirang" but it is strangely paced and felt kinda scattered. I would have loved to see more of the creative process, there are tidbits of it but clearly not enough to feel like it is "documentary" level. It just mostly feel like a bunch of vlog videos from that time, and I think there could have done better either at making it entertaining or informative. Don't get me wrong, it is a real pleasure to see the guys again, back tohether. It is not just up to par to the advertisement around it as well as the quality of the album.

I would of course recommend this if you love BTS. Watching it within the context of the comeback and the new album remains a good experience for fans.

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Like adding herbs to your bathwater.

"As Long as We Both Shall Live" is like a Japanese Cinderella story, about an abused girl sent to mary a cold captain. Along side the romance, the storyline had a touch of fantasy and action. The fire-bending scenes were actually quite impressive! STORY ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The ML was a breath of fresh air; at the beginning he seemed dark and cruel but, unlike the usual Japanese trope of the man mocking the girl he likes, he actually became consistently kind and helped build her self-confidence. His kindness felt genuine, and he carried himself with such a refreshing sincerity. The actor was perfect for this roll.
The FL was timid and overly apologetic, but that makes sense given how oppressively she was raised. She was also sincere and trying her best making you feel very protective over her. The actress potrayed all of this very well
ACTING/CAST ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As for the music, I can't really rember any of it.
MUSIC ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Over all, it felt like adding 🌿herbs🌿 to your bathwater (I'm rerencing a cute scene) and I've already re-watched it.
RE-WATCH VALUE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
OVERALL⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Over the River

A day before watching this movie, I read a book about our last king, who was sent into exile after World War I. One of the reasons was that he refused to sign a contract with the Masons. He sacrificed his position of power to stand up for what he believed was right. Naturally, watching this film about a king in exile, I found many parallels and deeply appreciated its themes. The king here is a young boy sent to live in a house on the other side of the river, separated from his people. The movie uses the river as a powerful symbol, but I won’t spoil it here because it is connected with the finale of the movie.

The film also promotes themes of overcoming selfish intentions, loyalty, friendship, community, breaking the boundaries of class — all of which I found meaningful and well-executed.

Unfortunately, the movie didn’t really move me emotionally. For me, it felt too uneven, constantly shifting between comedy and drama. It also relied heavily on cinematic tropes (for example, rain suddenly starting and stopping at the perfect dramatic moment for visual impact). Many scenes felt overly staged, which prevented me from fully immersing myself. Aside from the king’s warden (Yoo Hae-jin) and the king himself, the other characters were mostly caricatures in the background. Strangely, the moment that had the strongest emotional impact on me was the historical records shown at the end of the movie.

Although I respect and like this film, I can’t help but feel it could have been much better.

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The Lead Performances: Xyriel Manabat (Rose) and Kyle Echarri (Jordan) are the heart of this movie. Xyriel, in her first lead film role, proves she hasn't lost the emotional depth that made her a star as a child actress. Kyle plays the "brooding new boy in town" with more nuance than your typical teen heartthrob. 
• Nostalgia Factor: For anyone who grew up in the 2000s, the "internet cafe" setting, the old-school emails, and the general vibe of a provincial town will feel very cozy and grounded.
• Visual Direction: Directed by Dolly Dulu, the film has a warm, cinematic quality that captures the beauty of the Philippine countryside without feeling like a tourism ad.
The "Too Much" (The Not-So-Good)
• Melodramatic Tropes: As the story progresses, it leans heavily into "melodramatic wrench-throwing." If you aren't a fan of sudden, high-stakes drama that complicates a simple romance, the final act might feel a bit heavy-handed. 
• Formulaic Plot: The "enemies-to-lovers" and "rich boy/poor girl" dynamics are things we’ve seen many times before. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it executes the formula well.
Final Verdict
If you’re in the mood for a "hugot" film that feels like a warm blanket (with a few thorns), "18th Rose" is a solid choice. It’s less about a revolutionary plot and more about the chemistry between the leads and that bittersweet feeling of first love.

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